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Minister In The Mire

Natwar is alone in his hour of crisis, the Congress more anxious to clear its name

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Minister In The Mire
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Natwar Singh's precise involvement as a "non-contractual beneficiary" of the UN's Oil For Food programme for Iraq has yet to be established, and the reference to the Congress may be vague. But the BJP's onslaught—asking for criminal proceedings to be initiated against the foreign minister, followed by a demand for his sacking—and further revelations in the media have ensured that the political reverberations of l'affaire Volcker will resound for a while. Sensing this, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have decided not to take any chances, lest the controversy engulf both the government and the party.

Reflecting this, the UPA government, while acknowledging the seriousness of the Volcker allegations, on November 3 announced its readiness for a probe. In a carefully calibrated statement, the PMO said that "though there was insufficient material to arrive at any adverse or definitive conclusion, the government was determined to go to the root of the matter to establish the truth of the matter or otherwise".

The announcement came minutes after a meeting on Thursday of the Congress core committee, which examined the legal opinion it had sought on the subject. It had been preceded by a one-to-one discussion between the PM and Sonia Gandhi the day before.

For the Congress, the linking of one of its seniormost ministers to sleaze money has been "hugely embarrassing", say UPA insiders. Especially as the connection between Natwar's son and Bharatpur MLA Jagat Singh and Andaleeb Sehgal, the man who paid the surcharge to Saddam Hussein via his company Hamdan Exports, has come to the fore. Natwar has so far not been able to explain away this "friendship", a relationship the son personally acknowledged on a TV channel.

The result has been a great deal of confusion. On the day the story broke, the party's media committee vanished to an undisclosed venue, and three hours later, its media chairperson, Ambika Soni, and party secretary Tom Vadakkan surfaced at the party headquarters, only to stonewall the issue. Since then, the Congress' media managers have been scrambling for a credible strategy to counter the opposition fire while trying to ensure that the party itself does not get singed.

In its initial reaction, the Congress tried to distance itself from its minister, stressing that while the party was not involved, Natwar had "defended" himself. Besides, the party maintained, the PM had said that there was "insufficient material to arrive at any adverse conclusion". Later, as the opposition criticism mounted, and Natwar himself took a tough line not just publicly but also among his party colleagues, with one party functionary even describing him as a "bit of a bully", the Congress was forced to cast aspersions on the report's authenticity, the motives of its authors and talk about "a trial by the media".

But off the record, Congress sources say the party is more anxious to clear its "fair name". As far as Natwar is concerned, it's up to him to prove he is innocent. As a party functionary said, "We are spokespersons for the Congress, not for Natwar Singh." Interestingly, the day the government announced it was ready for a probe, the Congress dashed off a comprehensive legal notice to the Volcker Committee and the UN, asking why the party was named as a beneficiary and seeking an apology if it failed to explain. There was no reference to Natwar in the notice. Left to fend for himself, Natwar reportedly complained to the PM that the Congress had failed to defend him effectively.

The general consensus in the Congress appears to be that Natwar's position as foreign minister is becoming "increasingly untenable". Government sources say the PM is also trying to assess whether Natwar's authority will be diminished if he continues in his current job. With the shadow of the Volcker report hanging over him, he may no longer have the credibility to deal with his counterparts around the world.

The dilemma before the party is whether it should drop Natwar altogether or shift him to a less high-profile ministry. Some think it should happen soon—when the long-awaited cabinet reshuffle takes place. Others think the UPA should not give the BJP a "victory" and should wait till Parliament recommences and Natwar makes his defence on the floor of the house.

With more than half a century as a career diplomat and then as a politician, the personal and the public have often converged for Natwar Singh. As an officer in the Indian Foreign Service, he had a reputation for being high-strung. He apparently suffered a nervous breakdown when he was deputy high commissioner in London. More recently, his personal life has been marred by tragedy. First, his daughter-in-law, the half-Jordanian Natasha, committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a five-star hotel following a troubled marriage to Jagat. In the messy police investigations that followed, former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra is believed to have played a part in resolving matters. A few months later, Natwar's daughter Ritu committed suicide in their Vasant Vihar home in Delhi.

This latest episode—in which son Jagat seems to have dragged him into the mire—is another instance of the personal dogging Natwar's political life. And perhaps his ministerial career.

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